Parks, Cereal and People Watching
by eclecticdinosaurs
Summary: Sherlock and Joan take a small break from their job and enjoy a day at the park. Sort off.


_**I like reviews. Be constructive. Be nice.**_

* * *

He peeked from behind the door, his keen eyes scanning her room. Making sure that she was fully covered by her blanket, he slowly opened the door and mentally kicked himself for not oiling the hinges as they creaked. The blankets moved, and Joan Watson blinked.

"Sherlock, out!" A pillow flew by his ear and Joan covered herself from head to toe again.

"Oh come on Joan," he pouted. He picked up the pillow and sniffed it gingerly, making a note of her shampoo, maybe he could buy her some as an apology. "It's late already and you're still in bed!"

She poked her head from under the covers. "I wouldn't be in bed if someone didn't make me run in the rain after him while he chased down a criminal."

"But we caught him Watson!" Sherlock jumped on the bed like an oversized toddler, dancing dangerously closed to her. "We caught him and we solved the case, talk about TEAMWORK!"

Joan rolled her eyes and counted to ten. When Sherlock told her to take the six weeks as a holiday, she knew that it wasn't going to be a relaxing one. From running all over New York interrogating suspects and crashing cars she was already having second thoughts about her _holiday_. Even with the small fortune she was being paid to babysit Sherlock, it wasn't nearly enough what she deserved. She eyed Sherlock who was still jumping on her bed talking about blood patterns and soap operas and food all at the same time at 100 miles a second. She could only imagine what he was like as a child, high on a sugar rush; then high with other substances as he grew older. Still, she couldn't help but smile.

"So you like the idea?" He asked excited.

Joan shook her head. "What idea?"

"Didn't you hear me?" He asked annoyed. "I said I'd make us breakfast and we go to the park and people watch then we eat pretzels and people watch again then we go to the morgue."

"No morgue, it's a Sunday." She edged out of the bed and went to her suitcase, she hadn't had a chance to unpack anything and was hoping she'd have all day to settle in. "We have the rest of the week to see dead bodies, what's the rush?"

"So yes on the breakfast and park and the everything else right? Great!" He hopped of the bed and ran towards his room, not giving her enough time to negate anything.

Joan sighed and dug through her case, opting for something comfortable and warm, not planning on catching a cold in the rainy mood New York was currently in.

After settling for a pair of weathered black jeans and loose knit sweater, she walked towards the kitchen only to crash into Sherlock in the hall way.

"Good you're ready let's go." Sherlock grabbed her coat and opened the front door.

"What happened to breakfast?" her stomach rumbled in agreement.

He wiggled a box of Lucky Charms cereal. "Got that covered." He answered proudly, "We'll have breakfast while we people watch at the park. Multitasking."

She let herself be helped into her coat and pulled him back, wrapping his scarf around his neck. The last thing she wanted was a sick Sherlock. That was sure to be a nightmare.

0.0.0

He leaned forwards and whispered in her ear, "He's cheating on her but she's fine with it because she started cheating on him first."

"And that man, over there," he pointed over the hedge that separated the fountain from the tree area to a balding middle-aged business man carrying a briefcase. "That man is a Pokemon trainer, he's spent most of his money of Pokemon cards."

Joan broke into laughter through a mouthful of Lucky Charms. "How can you possibly know that?"

"He just traded cards with the child on the corner and his key chain is a Pikachu," he exclaimed grabbing a fistful of cereal and picking only at the marshmallows. "How did you miss that?!"

Joan shrugged and leaned back on the fountain, stretching her legs, putting one over the other. She opened her hand and Sherlock deposited his unwanted cereal into hers. "You should eat all the cereal not just the marshmallows."

"Mmm, no," he continued to sift through the cereal and look out into the crowd.

They had arrived at the park quite quickly and when Joan was about to reach a bench, Sherlock took her hand and dragged her to the fountain. He explained that a lot more people walked by the fountain and therefore a lot more entertaining.

They sat on the floor and started eating cereal. Sherlock would make a deduction and Joan would ask him his method for reaching the conclusion.

"It's elementary my dear Watson," he'd explained through a mouthful of marshmallows. "I observe and put two and two together you could do it too if you wanted to."

But she didn't. Sherlock had his methods, and she had her own.

"This is nice," Sherlock's voice pulled her from her thoughts. "There's a park close to home where I'd be taken in the mornings. I'd sit down by the fountain having breakfast and my brother and I would make deductions. He's a lot better at this than I am, Mycroft is. Pity he's wasting his mind in all the bureaucracy back home."

Joan nodded. This was the first time he'd open up about his family life. The hint of nostalgia seeped through his voice, making Joan remember her brother and longing to be a child once more. Back when the only nightmares she had could be solved with her mother's kiss.

She turned to Sherlock and before she could help herself, said "We can do this next Sunday as well."

Sherlock's head snapped in her direction, "Really, Watson?"

"Sure, this can be that holiday you talked about." She grabbed the cereal box and picked out the marshmallows, handing them over to him. "Except next Sunday I bring the breakfast."

Sherlock stayed quite. Well, this was different, the only person that willingly sat with him through his deductions had been his brother, as he got older and they drifted apart, he went to the park on his own except it wasn't to people watch. He met with various characters that gave him tiny packets with white powder and the sort but they never stayed with him longer than necessary.

"Is there a problem with that?" Joan asked concerned, wondering if she had overstepped her boundaries.

"Problem? No Watson, none at all," he said brightly. "I was just wondering if you knew that the women to our left just started pole dancing lessons and is afraid her mother in law will find out."

Joan burst into laughter and spit out her cereal. "Now you're making things up."

She covered her mouth and tried to muffle her laughter, earning a glare from the pole dancing student as she passed them by. Joan didn't notice the glare and didn't notice that Sherlock was looking at her like she was the most important person in the world.

He made a note of her laughter, wondering when the last time was that he'd made anyone laugh like that.

"Come on Watson," he said getting to his feet. "I know a good pretzel place around the corner. That shop is a gold mine for people watching."

"Good," she dusted herself off. "Because I'm starving."

"Starving?" Sherlock asked incredulously. He wiggled the cereal box under her nose. "You just had breakfast."

"That wasn't breakfast." Joan slapped the box out of her face. "Go on then, lead the way."

He grabbed another handful of cereal and began towards the sidewalk, Joan's shoes clicking by his side. He handed her the unwanted cereal and grinned.

_This is nice._


End file.
